Dear Mark,
Being an extra in a Bollywood movie? Bit old hat but if you still want to give it a spin hang out at Leopold's in Mumbai. You'll most probably land a part as a background extra in a bar - where else would one find a foreign devil?!
What about camping out with some of India's most primitive indigenous tribes? Learn bush survival techniques, how to brew the local liquor and find out why the women prefer younger husbands!
You might want to look into Kalari Payattu, a traditional martial art form originating from Kerala. The Blue Yonder do wonderful work in Kerala, more info here: http://www.theblueyonder.com/day3.htm
The Kolkata-Dhaka train has recently made it back onto the tracks - imagine that would be an interesting journey. Also look at cruising the Sundarbans - but watch out for the tigers!
Wish you all the best for an amazing journey,
Claire
'don't be the root of the problem ... be the route to the solution'
www.grassroutesjourneys.com
Hey, thanks for the reply.
I love the sound of getting amongst the tribes and learning about their way of life. Just the thing a city boy like myself needs to experience I think.
Leopold's sounds familiar, I think it may have been mentioned in the book Shantaram?
'Leopold's sounds familiar, I think it may have been mentioned in the book Shantaram?'
.... that's the one!
think the shooting for shantaram is over now too.
'don't be the root of the problem ... be the route to the solution'
www.grassroutesjourneys.com
Joined: 09-02-07
Other than my love of travel, I also have a lust for randomness and usual experiences - fortunately these two desires combine quite nicely.
For example, one of the highlights of my South East Asia trip was gatecrashing a party and wound up drinking shots of whiskey with the city governor of Siem Reap and having a photo shoot with some random baby that was thrust in to my arms midway through the evening.
( More about this: http://snipurl.com/26tl0 )
Anyway, I'm due to be travelling through Asia for a year in 2010 and was thinking of some challenges I could set myself to further enhance this expedition.
So far the ideas I have had are:
* Appear on a Japanese game show
Nobody does crazy like the Japanese. I think the Human Tetris one is my kind of style (opposed to the sadistic 'Endurance' type shows).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll2kajMH2u0
* Be an extra in a Bollywood movie
I've been told that they are always looking for white skinned people to appear in these - does anyone know anything more about this?
* Some sort of martial art boot camp
I'm physically fit, but have never tried any form of combat, thought a week or two of muay thai or similar might be interesting?
* Bike ride from Everest Base Camp to Kathmandu
Totally stole this idea from these people:
http://www.lonelyplanet.tv/Clip.aspx?key=6905BECDFBDF11C1
So people, share with me your pearls of wisdom, what else would be an entertaining endeavour?
Please share, no matter how outlandish!
Mark
http://marksteele.co.nz